Nico Lang
Co-Editor, In Our Words; Associate Director, The Civil Rights Agenda
East Aurora Developing New Transgender Student Policies: Why We Must Stand With Them
Posted: 11/13/2012 5:32 pm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nico-lang/east-aurora-transgender-student-policies_b_2119257.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&ir=Gay+Voices&src=sp&comm_ref=false#sb=290486,b=facebookI remember where I was the morning I found out. It was an average Saturday, quiet and still, the kind of morning you wouldn't remember unless something extraordinary happened, a moment that forces you to be aware of the world around you and your place in it. When I finally read the headline on the Huffington Post that broke the news to me, I was in shock. I couldn't believe that East Aurora would so devalue the feelings of its student population by pulling the rug out from under them. I couldn't believe that East Aurora heeded the rantings of those stated opposition to LGBT rights and equality, a group that doesn't just oppose the district's transgender policies: they oppose its transgender students. I couldn't believe they had caved. And when I called transgender friends of mine who had been following the story -- hoping that East Aurora would stand up to hate -- neither could they. They felt like they had been attacked.
But luckily for East Aurora's students, supporters of the policy were not alone in thinking that the district had caved. Two of the school board members involved in the policy's repeal now admit that they caved into a hate group, and shortly after the Oct. 26 decision began putting together a committee to oversee the development of new policies to replace the ones the school board struck down. In an Ad Hoc committee meeting last Thursday, the attorney for the East Aurora School District, Bernie Weiler, stated that the "ship has sailed" on opposition to transgender protections, as the school board would open itself up to lawsuits if another policy was not put in place. According to Rick Garcia of The Civil Rights Agenda, who sat on the committee, Weiler is correct:
The Illinois Human Rights Act mandates full protection for all individuals based upon his or her actual or perceived gender-related identity, whether or not traditionally associated with the person's designated gender at birth. The Act makes clear that elementary and secondary schools are considered places of public accommodation. As a public accommodation, this school district is prohibited from denying or refusing a transgender individual the full and equal enjoyment of the facilities, goods and services provided to all students.
